2 months already

i have to admit my plan was to post something every week. but that was a long time ago when i was young and naive. right now i spend every spare minute writing about music for someone else. so my blog has to wait. on the other hand i can't really say you missed something. there has been a lot great music but not much that qualifies as an "earworm". there was the flaming lips "convinced of the hex". that song was out before their album "embryonic" was. but the final album version is not as good as the pre-release version. and still it is the best song on the album. so as you can imagine by now i was pretty disappointed by the album. and still am.

anyway, you can find the song on the flaming lips myspace page

the other record that is on my private heavy rotation is the tour 10" of alela diane and alina harding. they do some classic folk songs and since i have a wet spot for irish folk in my bitter, bitter heart i can't stop listening to that record. i guess i have to buy a new one soon as this one gets its grooves scratched out pretty good. my favourite song is "matty groves" but alela diane's myspace page has only "rake". still a great song.

the obvious and the obscure pt. 1

the obvious and the obscure pt. 1

zola jesus - sink the dynasty

there have been a few releases lately that i find more than just entertaining. nika roza danilova alter ego zola jesus created one of them. nika started singing at a pretty young age and decided to get classical opera training for her voice. when she took a break from that she started experimenting with lo-fi noise pop. being able to perfectly control her voice is one of the pluses of zola jesus’ music but it is the combination of great pop tunes played in a lo-fi way based on or highlighted by a few industrial like sounds and her distanced vocals that create this beautifully cold and eerie atmosphere. there’s nothing of opera in here. it’s more a modern version of early post punk wave bands like siouxsie and the banshees, malaria or x-mal deutschland. but still it is far from being retro.


zola jesus myspace


vv brown – crying blood

vv brown took me a while to get into. even though it is far easier accessible than the zola jesus stuff. but crying blood was an instant hit. it is the prelude to her debut album “travelling like light”. vanessa brown is a multi-instrumentalist and wrote the majority of the songs herself what seems to be rare for an island recording artist first signed by puff daddy. but maybe i’m just pre-occupied here.
nevertheless her music seems to be the antithesis of zola jesus’ work. it it passionate and cheerful. id i had to describe it i’d say: what the pipettes tried to do minus the white mediocrity of the brighton band. vv brown is the 50s girl group revival in a single person. her music commutes between her soul influences and her post punk attitude. but all without the remi nicole “i am black but i like rock music” crap that is an insult to chuck berry and all the pre-elvis rock’n’roll artists.

vv brown myspace


ps.: i tried to include vv browns video (go to youtube instead) but blogspot had another technical difficulty. it’s been quite often lately and it makes me question the software in use. maybe they should open the option of imbedding videos from youtube and the likes.

The Hex Dispensers – Doomsday Romantic

some weeks ago a friend of mine stuffed my ears with the new hex dispensers songs. not quite without selfish motifs since he works for the record company releasing the new album in europe and he running a little record business out of his living room.
but this made getting the record just harder because of course i don’t want the european license thing. the american version is on douchemaster records. a label that released so many good garage punk records lately. i got quite a collection of their stuff now and therefore won’t fall for less than the genuine thing. and to not having to compete with each other the releases will not leave their places of origin. that means all the american versions my favourite record store tried to get got cancelled from shipping to europe. so i’ll try to order the record from douchemaster directly. that will allow me to order some of their other records i don’t have yet.
but it is funny how companies don’t realize that there are people out there who actually care about the little difference of an original and a licence pressing. and unfortunately for those companies some of these people care in the special way of having to buy both versions. i’m like this with some bands. or some labels. there are quite a few records i have more than one copy of because they are different pressings. mostly also accompanied by different covers and mixes. at least different covers.

one might wonder what’s so special about the hex dispensers for all the effort. nothing. yes, they write great, catchy punk tunes. sometimes a little ramones, sometimes more misfits. both not the worst choice. but a lot of other bands did the same. it is just that they ARE catchy. really catchy. and fun. and everything you need. and like i said, it is not so much about the band but more about the label. check out the stolen hearts, wax museum, baby shakes, barreracudas, gg king and so on.

and while you’re at it: the vivian girls have a new record ready. great powerpop with a little garage edge. perfect summer album. so is the summer cats album “songs for tuesdays”. don’t get fooled by the title, those songs are good every day.



the hex dispensers on myspace

The Anomalies – Kid Riot

the mainstream media finally discovered emiliana torrini and the “jungle drum” can be spotted between ring tone commercials quite regularly. and even released fall last year her album “me and armini” is considered the summer album 2009. well, i do appreciate that she finally gets the attention she deserves since the album is really good and she won’t be just “that girl who did “gollums song” for the lord of the rings soundtrack. but i can’t join in in that celebration since i already danced my soles off to her record last year and i do have another favourite for this years summer album. ladies and gentlemen: the anomalies.
their album “free soup social” is a great combination of brit rock, hip hop and dub beats and just fun listening to. it is an “instant good mood” album. you just need to add volume. lots of it.
kid riot starts with a simple guitar riff not unsimilar to the earlier works of the view or the arctic monkeys. but accompanying the words “there’s death and killings in the streets” by a bicycle bell shows that it doesn’t want to be taken too seriously. switching too a fast driven rap part brings old klf tunes or more recent dan le sac vs. scroobious pip tracks to mind. the anomalies’ raps are definitely as witty as the pips but with way less moral gospel involved. going forwards and backwards between these two parts tricks your body from a steady nodding head movement to full body action including a 360° spin. and all of a sudden the track is led into a thoughtful shoegazer ending.
there are not two songs alike on this album still every song is equally great to kid riot and in total free soup social is one of the best composed and arranged debut albums i heard in a long time. unfortunately so far it went completely unnoticed and i hope the anomalies will get the deserved attention sooner or later, too.

the anomalies myspace

metric – sick muse

just when i thought earworms are hard to find: here’s a new metric album. the have a lucky hand with them. everything they do is meant to be stuck in your ears forever. and they’re really good at it. i just wish i would have listened to my friend and bought tickets to their show in advance. but after nobody seemed to care about the von bondies playing i was pretty sure there no need to rush. it was sold out faster than you can name all their albums.

anyway i enjoy listening to their album and basically every song would has what it needs to be an earworm. it is just that this one is the one i keep singing in my head the last couple of days. this one and a few i mentioned earlier on. which actually gives me a good feeling because that means every song was properly chosen.
as you may have noticed i slowed down a little bit. like i said: earworms are hard to find. and i don’t want to force things too much and end up just mentioning songs i like and or think the world should know about.

but now i got some more already in stock and i hope i’ll soon find the time to put them up here. some hopefuls are jack peñate, jamie t. and the anomalies.
jack peñate’s new album is really awesome. way more solid than and totally different from his first one. it reminds me a lot of a “best of 70s disco” compilation. i feel embarrassed to like the songs but still have to admit that they are just great fun.
jamie t. – the so good. it is still jamie t. it is still so much london and still so much fun to listen to. and the anomalies are just the summer that we are all missing here. describing their sound as “mgmt getting drunk with the specials in the basement of the beastie boys house”. just fun.


metric myspace

ariel pink’s haunted graffiti – can’t hear my eyes

i found another label i took in subscription. after fashionable idiots and no way records please welcome captured tracks. not only they gave me the great dum dum girls from earlier on, you should check out blessure grave’s 12”, too. as joy division as interpol wanted to be but didn’t dare to. the label seems to focus on new wave bands with a little twist. yes, the glorious 80s are omnipresent but on a lo-fi level. i love it when i can rely on the good taste of a small label.
and best known might be the blank dogs whose mastermind mike sniper actually runs the label.

ariel pink’s haunted graffiti do their lo-fi in a totally different, kind of over the top mode. i can’t really listen to most of their songs. i bet no one really can but a lot of people pretend to because they are kind of hip nowadays. anyway, just to prove that they don’t use all the pretentious lo-fi stuff to cover up their inability to write or play well the do some great tunes here and there. can’t hear my eyes is such an almost perfect pop song. lots of 70s psychedelic feeling here but still. i actually could listen to this song over and over again. which i’d have to since i only bought the 7” and the flipside is pretty boring.

ariel pink’s haunted graffiti myspace

dum dum girls – put a sock in it

the internet does funny things. countries are not more than a domain ending now. you can listen to punk bands from bejing without having been there. without knowing anyone in australia you can listen to the newest australian bands. a band from south africa is the new hype in europe without ever having played outside their hometown. but also scenes stop existing. where one band used to inspire those who listened to their earliest efforts and them starting own bands then, trying to do likewise and by thus establishing the sound of a scene nowadays bands in china get inspired by bands from london. bands in new york try to get this french sound. no more madchester, no more seattle, new york, chicago, detroit, san diego, sheffield, brighton, brussels.
i was listening to zee avi lately. a girl from malaysia who put up videos of herself on youtube, got invited to do a record and has now an album out in the u.s.
her music couldn’t be more american. a little fiona apple here and a little norah jones there and you’d never guess that you’re actually listening to a girl from borneo. only when she sings in malayi you start to wonder.
and that’s another thing: bands or musicians not only sound like they are form some more likely place on earth, also the lyrics deal with the everyday problems of the homo cosmopolitiens. broken hearts here and everywhere. i’m really not a big fan of keeping up traditions, especially when it comes to a peoples or nations “culture and heritage”. but the image projected is that every place on earth is the same. the people might look different and the weather might be different but their lifes are not much different from yours.
i miss the lyrics that informed you about the specific problems of the artist in their time and country. lyrics that actually had something to say. the music might have been universal but the lyrics told you very specifically where the artist was from.

that i only experience by the postage rates today. when i discovered the dum dum girls i asked her, as there is in fact only one dum dum girl and her name is dee dee just llike dee dee ramone and how cool is this!, where to get the record from since it didn’t have a distributor by then. she answered me that i could order from her directly for some bucks plus a little fortune on postage. i think i would have ended up paying like 30$ for her 12”. so i passed. fortunately the record got a second press and a distributor and i was able to buy it in a record store in my neighbourhood. for way less.

dum dum girls myspace

title tracks – found out

it looks like god finally realized that it forgot spring this year and winter directly turned into summer. now, just two weeks later fall arrived. maybe next week it’s winter again and it tries spring in a second running.
anyway, the weather kept me from riding my bike and taking a train instead. and for just a second it looked like i’m back to the old routine of missing trains just by a second. usually i arrive at the station and already see my train waiting. so i take my time since i’m going to miss it anyway and that way i have to wait less time until the next one arrives. and usually the train is taking it’s time, too and leaves just seconds after i arrive on the platform. but since i first have to buy a ticket i’m going to miss it always. and when i already have a ticket it leaves when i arrive at the platform after running as fast as i can.
so today i saw the train waiting and slowed down. i arrived at the platform, the train still there. i went to the ticket machine and get my ticket. the train still waiting for something. as i wait for my ticket and my change i get a little nervous. maybe... finally i got the ticket and the change and jump for the doors. i make it. for some reason i’m on the train and the doors close behind me. well, maybe from now on everything will be different.
“found out” is the b-side of the title tracks’ first seven inch “every little bit hurts”. 2 minutes 36 seconds of a great pop tune that brings weezer to mind. just with way less tongue in cheek. maybe it’s because both bands draw influences from the same sources. title tracks combine that 60s feeling with modern post rock seriousness. the songs keep you wondering whether you just party wild or just be cool and nod your head to the music. i hope they can keep it up on album length and have that album ready soon. it would be a great loss to not have this music available for the summer to come.

title tracks myspace

a place to bury strangers – i know i’ll see you

no matter how short or mild a winter is, it’s always dreadful. between the late sunrise and the early sundown lies a short and grey smear impersonating a day. in school i got taught that every season has its own colour. winter is white, spring is green, summer is… i don’t know… yellow? for me winter was always grey and summer always bright yellow. maybe it’s because of the bright light everywhere or of the grass on unwatered lawns turned brown and yellow. but the image of a yellow summer was always with me. that and that humming sound. a constant hum of cicadas and high voltage wires. and the white noise in my ears when i got a headache from dehydration. when i tried to do an aquarelle for school depicting my last weekend it was a arrangement of yellow of all shades and lightness. but mostly very bright yellow.
a place to bury strangers use that hum to create a distanced sound that feels like a summer day. first pleasant and relaxing, then lulling you to a light sleep and before you know you’re worn out by the intensity and the omnipresence of that background hum. it gets you slowly.
that’s why they are not exactly like the jesus and mary chain. sure, the first thing that comes to mind when you hear a place to bury strangers is “just like honey” by the jesus and mary chain but “psychocandy”, the jesus and mary chains first album is more aggressive; attacking you with it’s overkill distortion and wears you out within the first two minutes. i always suspected their wall of noise to be the sound of heroin and only people on heroin could really like “psychocandy”. then i heard “darklands” and was disappointed by the literally “clean” sound. everything that made this sound for me was gone and i realized how much i actually like that psyche sound.
besides that shoegazing and heavy distortion both bands have in common what a place to bury strangers are lacking is the cold britishness, the angst and depression that the jesus and mary chain manifested in their sound. a place to bury strangers have a summer sound. even though they are from new york and not california.



a place to bury strangers myspace

rebuilding the rights of statues – tv show (hang the police)

i started reading wilson neate’s “pink flag” from the 33 1/3 band biography series. this one is, as you may guess, about wire. wire, like gang of four or devo, were always considered as the strange art students version of punk appendix to the early punk movement by me. punk in a very unpunk way. this book taught me that they were unpunk in a very punk way. it also got me to listening to wire again. and not just “12XU”.
wire were surely the first post punk band because even though coming from a punk background they tried to leave that behind right from the beginning.
and without this conscious decision to also expand behind the limits of punk by wire post punk would have been a failure. the music scene needed, and still needs, the punk attitude. but punk also needed the wire attitude to question the new rules.
bands like bauhaus or joy division would never have happened without punk but they could also not have happened within punk.

the next impact, almost as if not more important than punk was the internet. punk made creating music possible for everyone, no matter what his or hers musical skills were. the internet made distributing this music possible for everyone. and that on a level that is way beyond tape distribution. with platforms like myspace or last.fm you not only don’t need a record contract, you don’t even need any contact in places on the other side of the planet to get your music there. or from there.

i don’t remember what the initial tag was that led me to rebuilding the rights of on last.fm but i fell in love with their music immediately. tv show combines the bass lines of early bauhaus with the dissonant vocals of early siouxie and the banshees. both are delivered by liu min. whereas hua dong contributes with, and that unlike bauhau’s peter murphy, very detached, very sterile vocals and a dissonant guitar. what impresses my most is the complete absence of the merest hint of the bands origin. this song is definitely not what i’d expect from a band from peking. but it seems i have too recalibrate my perception of chinas music and art scene. a friend of mine who just returned from hongkong told me that peking is the place to be in china when you’re into underground music. so i’ll try to see what else might make it’s way into my headphones.

rebuilding the rights of statues just released their first full length and i’m curious whether the kept their style or went further post punk.




rebuilding the rights of myspace

Miss Li - I Heard Of A Girl

music tends to have a very pessimistic view on it’s world. everything used to be better in the past. and owning really old records is mostly higher regarded than owning old wine. and no matter how old your oldest record is. the music of the year before was more candid, more honest.
i think my oldest record is “meet the supremes” by the supremes on tamla motown fron 1965. i do like it. i also like the early marvelettes and the ronettes. but i wouldn’t like to miss some more recent records as well.
then there is the trace of fatalism that all music is already composed and today’s artist are doomed to remixes and rearrangements of the existing sounds. and after the absolute deconstruction of music by genres like industrial or drone there seems to be no niche left to occupy. but as the technology progresses the means to produce music progress, too and by this the sound will ultimately change and even if the music structures repeat the songs will be new. and drone is not just a replication of industrial.
miss li comes into this “replication of the past” in two ways. first she is not the only miss li from sweden and the voice and some songs are not to dissimilar to lykke li’s songs. but where lykke li loses herself in ethereal sounds and susurration miss li here intersperses some ragtime and jazz. and yes, that’s the other way. her fourth album “dancing the whole way home” comes with a very swedish indie skeletal structure and a little jazz as garnish.

miss li myspace

The Decemberists - The Rake's Song

i was very sceptical when i read about a new the decemberists record. their last one “the crane wife” was a strange combination of indie and prog rock and i found those prog rock songs just too pathetic. but “the crane wife” was a concept album based on a japanese fairy tale. so i hoped for less grandiloquence this time.
the decemberists’ new album “the hazards of love” is not based on some old stories. but instead of less epic storytelling they lost the mundane indie rock songs and went prog rock all the way. with bare grandiloquence.
it is really difficult to say why i like it this time. maybe because without the dichotomy of the indie vs. prog rock songs the album sounds more monolithic. or maybe it is because of the new found dichotomy of epic songwriting vs. minimal production. the album sounds just like a rough mix or peel session of …and you will know us by the trail of dead.

that reminds me that i should give the new …and you will know us by the trail of dead another listen. i totally love “so divided” and “festival thyme” was a nice little appetizer. but when i listened to “the century of self” it just didn’t click. but it needs to because they decided to go vinyl again and the artwork just rocks.

the decemberists myspace

The Shutes – Alternative Way

this tuesday the phonogram people publicized a page from the coming 2nd comic of “the singles club” series. i’m waiting for this 2nd part since weeks now and all i get is a single page... bummer. anyway, it’s in the works and that is good to know.
for those unfamiliar to the phonogram comics: it’s basically about the magick (sic) of music. and even though they feature some obscure magick rites, in the end it’s only about the everyday magick of music everyone can experience. e.g. the most hated group of “retromancers”: djs playing only hits of the past, songs everybody knows and everybody likes and surely will dance to. simple trick, no craft involved. or the magick of a record that captures you by the first chord and makes you play the record over and over again.
a day before the phonogram preview got publicized i went to see The Bishops. the last time i went to the club they were playing i was just “a little” late and could only catch the last two minutes and the encore. this time i went extra early since i decided i also want to see the opening band. extra early turned into just in time; so i walked in and got in line for the cloakroom as The Shutes started playing. and that, ladies and gentlemen, was one of those above mentioned magick moments. when michael champion started singing with his squirky, high voice intoning syllables like a hypnotic mantra i just stood and stared.
lately i have quite often tried to miss the opening band but for some reason and without knowing The Shutes i wanted to see the support act. and that was one of the best decisions ever. either the isle of wight, yes, that’s where they’re from, grows some real magicians or some real lucky folks. i hope, as they are still unsigned, that they find a nice record company soon and i’ll have more than the few myspace tracks to listen to.
the rest of the night was pretty… not disturbing but at least unsettling. and i don’t know what unsettled me more: The Bishops who seriously seem to think that opening your tie, jump around, grimace and strike a chord a little harder makes them a real wild rock band or the audience who, in large parts agreed with them.

The Shutes myspace

Love Is All - Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites

for some stupid reason i sold a good part of my record collection some years ago. i just took all the records i haven’t listened too in a while and unfortunately also those i felt i had listened too once to often. that proved to be a huge mistake. yes, for the moment it felt like i’d never listen to some of them again pretty soon a developed the urge to do so and of course to buy them back.
i thought i got everything until a friend sent me he mp3s of The Dubrovniks second album „Audio Sonic Love Affair”. now the treasure hunt was on. the first check in the usual places returned negative. no listing in Discogs, GEMM or Amazon. and of course no eBay. so i started an eBay search and waited. and waited. and waited. two weeks ago i got the email that a new item with the description “The Dubrovniks Sonic” got listed. first it looked like i’d be the only one interested but 2 days before the end the first bid got in. and on the last day the second. that smelled like an exciting finish. but these two rivals didn’t expect my determination to get this record! well, the end turned out to be pretty lame and i got the record for almost no money. lucky me.
but i’ll definitely never sell any records again that i listened to a lot. just like the second Love Is All album.
Love Is All is from Gothenburg, Sweden. a place i’ve been to quite often and gladly. i’m not sure if the fact that i like the record so much brings up all those memories of Gothenburg or if it’s my affection for the city that makes me liking this record so much.
any way “Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites” is a great tune to be stuck in my head and already has been before i knew of the band being from Gothenburg.

Love Is All myspace

The Bishops - City Lights

to be honest i had planned this week's blog to be about The Futureheads’ “The Beginning Of The Twist” since i recently rediscovered their album. but then The Futureheads came along.
there’s a series of compilations of old Decca recordings, subdivided into genres of their contemporary fashion. So, of course, some bands appear on “The Beat Scene” and “The Mod Scene” and even those not appearing on both are hard to assign to just one of the labels just by their music. without knowing the dress code it’s hard to recognise the subtle distinctions between powerpop, pop punk or mod. with a few exceptions, of course.
Scroobius Pip discovered this just recently in his remake of his song “Thou Shall Always Kill” when he stated: “thou shalt be aware that there are no longer any musical genres; they are all just different dress codes and fashion styles.” well, right, but he is wrong assuming this to be a new phenomenon. actually the dress code always came before and defined more the subculture than the music did. before there where rockers in the music scene there was a dress code and a culture the musicians came from or addressed. same with the mods or the punks both listening to reggae, dub or soul before forming their own bands and creating a new subgenre in music. and later skinheads with a very strict dress code listening to music as diverse as ska and punk, northern soul and hardcore. in the end "skinhead" was always just a dress code and never a musical genre.
judging from the looks in the band shots i’d put The Bishops in the Mod Revival drawer reminding me of the horribly underrated late 70s, early 80s band The Chords or maybe The Killermeters. musicwise a little stiffer than the mod or mod revival bands back then. i really don’t expect anyone today smashing guitars, drums or amplifiers during their live sets but do i really need to hear that the band is wearing rented suits they don’t want to crumple.

The Bishops myspace

The View - 5 Rebeccas

this monday i found a note saying that The Ettes are opening for the Kings Of Leon in a too huge venue. since it was already sold out i didn't need to worry whether or not i'd be willing to pay shitloads to see an opening band. but of course i was really disappointed, waiting for them to tour europe since i got their first record. after complaining for a while that i really want to see The Ettes but don’t care about the Kings Of Leon I got pointed out that the band has an additional club gig the next day. since it already was the next day when I got this message I cancelled all plans for the night and went home early to dress up.
i got in my tight black jeans, put on a black shirt and got my black dancing shoes all shiny. because dancing and shining was what i was up to.
unsure how many people might show up I went early to avoid a last minute heavy disappointment. i wasn’t the first one to arrive and a handful other early birds eyed me when i got in. but before the first opening act went on stage the place was packed, despite the torturing “skills” of the DJ.
the first opening act was a dude in corduroys and knitwear (from now on referred to as d.i.c.k.). and it was just the d.i.c.k. and his guitar crying about his amatory failures. is it just me or is there a flood of untalented dudes with a guitar and girl problems? anyway, the d.i.c.k. had a short set and left the stage to an irish guy with green sunglasses and a laptop. his first song was the same crap the d.i.c.k. just stopped producing, the second a little better and the third definitely his best. unfortunately there were at least 5 more to come.
since both were more on the quiet side and the club is known for not having loud bands I was a little scared that the show might turn into an acoustic set. it didn’t. it turned into the most genuine fuzzy garage punk that got me dancing and jumping and shaking from the first chord on and i couldn’t stop until the last note died away.
lately I found me asking myself if I got too old for that stuff but this night proofed that I might have grown older but not old.
a quality that also can be found in the new The View album: still loud but less chaotic than their debut, more witty than silly lyrics with a stronger scottish accent. it gets me dancing now while I’d have pogoed to first record. they definitely grew older, more adolescent now, but not wise yet.
and, to close the circle, they will be coming on tour as opening band for Mando Diao. crap!

The View myspace

Lily Allen – Fuck You

yes, this is about Lily Allen’s new record. the princess of turning the unbearable lightness of being into musical arts returned with a new decree for shallowness at an new degree. whereas her début was a masterpiece in the crafts of turning the grey world outside into a place where everyone and everything is nice and happy this new presentation is about mastering the next level. the art and craft she is competing in now is getting your brain to work without spoiling the party. she is accomplishing this task by using carnival music to accompany but not distract from the lyrics. anticipated by the closing track of her first album, the little polka tune “Alfie”, this did not really come without a warning.
but i never really like “Alfie”. and so for a few seconds i was wondering “what am i listening to? and why?” when the words “so you say it's not okay to be gay well i think you're just evil you're just some racist who can't tie my laces your point of view is medieval” started to slowly sip into my grey matter. now i began to realize the true proportions of Lily’s greatness. by using this annoying music i am more than willing to blind out she made it just easy for me to ignore those funny sounds to focus on the lyrics and win a chuckle here and there.

Lily Allen myspace

Pull In Emergency - In Silence

two years ago Pull In Emergency were the flagship of the british underage music scene. whenever there was a report about school kids doing music for an audience of also mostly school kids, Pull In Emergency got video time. and you would have expected talent scouts and managers of every bigger record label in the UK to trip over each other in their endeavour to be the first to sign the band, release a record and send them on tour. but nothing happened. now, two years later, the hype is gone. Mute Records sublabel Mute Irregulars knocked it down but were in no hurry to bring them to the market. a pretty effortless first seven inch stayed quite unnoticed. the promotion for the second seven inch is basicly in the hands of the band itself. it also seems a little hesitant, not to say indecisive to release a double a side record. usually this is the approach when the label or the band or whoever is in charge can't get settled on one song for the next release and leave it to the radio stations and clubs to pick their favourite song. the decision to produce a video for "In Silence" seems to denote a favour of this one.
but both songs are stripped-down basic britpop. just vocals, guitars, bass and drum; no gimmicks, no über-production. the charm and magic of songs that can be reproduced anytime anywhere. all the passion, the emotions, everything is carried by the music and the vocals alone. all the qualities that made peel sessions so special. in the end it was the strength of the songs that counted, not their production. if the band wasn't able to play its songs in it's basic outfit, the songs weren't good. the few minutes of Pull In Emergencies sophomore release revive my excitement about a band that is able to arrange great pop songs with just the basic tools they have at hand. a quality that seemed to have gone lost in the pop world.
i'm pretty sure good old John Peel would have loved it as much as he loved all the other bands that were invited to do a peel session.



Pull In Emergency myspace

School Of Seven Bells - iamundernodisguise

in 2005 i went on tour with a brooklyn-based band on Rykodisc. i think it was 2005. i spent a lot of time on tour and the years lost their numbers and only a huge blur of faces, places, names and emotions were left. thinking about it, it could have been 2004. so let's pretend it was 2004. it's of no importance anyway. so i was on tour with a Rykodisc band. to get an extra monetary tour support they carried a load of Rykodisc compilations. these compilations not only featured a song by the band i still haven't named and will not name here but also “Sabbath” by the japanese noise outfit Mono. Mono just finished their new album “Hymns To The Immortal Wind”. but especially live Mono are an experience. it's hard to believe that 3 people are actually able to create such a wall of sound.
the only other interesting track on this compilation was “Bread” by On!Air!Library!. ok, i think it was “Bread”. anyway, a song by On!Air!Library!. a band consisting of the two identical twins Alley and Claudia Deheza and Phillip Wann. and even though the members of still not named band insisted on the fact that On!Air!Library! aren't any good and only got signed because the label guys had a crush on the girls i really liked the song. very much earlier 4AD; filligree, gloomy and carried by the harmony of both sisters vocals. their homonymous album won me over by its multitudinousness. unfortunately the band stayed pretty unknown and broke up after their only album.
for School Of Seven Bells the Deheza twins teamed up with Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines. that and that this new band gets way more attention than On!Air!Library! did is actually the only difference between these two projects.

School Of Seven Bells myspace

The Organ - Fire In The Ocean

a lot 's been said about record collectors and music nerds; an awful lot. and most of it being true. when you read the reports of sightings and scorings of most obscure records you may think we may not deserve any better reputation. but after all and in the end, bloody hell, what do i care about what you think of me. at least i get pleasure out of something. and it's not about possession and ownership, not about having something others have not. mostly. it's the hunt and the hunt only. yesterday i picked up a package with a record that's been on my wantlist for almost 5 years now. and in those 5 years it never ever showed up anywhere. not even on eBay. so now i finally was able to scratch it off my list. opening the package right away, examining cover and vinyl and giving it a short spin at home just made my day.
no matter if it's the holy grail or that first, unregarded 7“ by an early 80s band from new zealand, it is all about finally finding it.
but even though my collection grows and most of the goals of my first list have been achieved, the list didn't grew smaller, only less obscure. limitations in number had been a matter of the labels not having enough money to make more copies. but when all copies been sold they usually had enough money for a second pressing. and a third. as long as people bought the record it was available on vinyl somehow. but nowadays vinyl is a limited version right from the beginning and i have a few weeks to decide whether or not i'd like to buy it. and as soon as it's gone it becomes a collectors item with the according prices.
and that leads me to The Organ. their only record „Grab That Gun“ was released by a small canadian indie label. since that meant that the band will stay widely unknown forever to the world south of the border and across the ocean, they broke up pretty soon afterwards. 2 years after the original release of the album a vinyl version has been released by a different label. this was 2006 and half an age ago in mordern times. even though the record is now only 2 years out it made it to the top of my wantlist now.
„Fire in The Ocean“ is a track from a just released MCD of live and unreleased songs. so far it is a CD-only release and i doubt that it will become a megaseller to justify a vinyl version, re-release of the album or a re-union. but i keep my hopes up.

The Organ myspace

Selfish Cunt – England Made Me II

i don't know what percentage of my income i spend on records. probably as much as i pay for rent. maybe even more. anyway, spending a great amount of money on records doesn't mean i just pay shitloads for anything. i usually try to find the best deal or real bargains. which usually brings me to foreign, mostly overseas internet shops. and that usually brings me to browsing pages and pages of random stuff looking for something else i might want, to save on postage. even the greatest one dollar record can be overpriced when you have to add twelve dollars on postage.
and what else i might want is rarely stuff i know because mostly i already have it or at least have ordered it from somewhere else. no, it's the stuff that i don't have. the stuff that sounds interesting by the review, by the bands it gets compared with or just by the fact that it was released by the same small indie label that also released the record i initially went for.
what caught my interest on this record was the band name. simple as it is. a band called Selfish Cunt can't be bad. actually it needs to be good since airplay seems impossible and promotion difficult. and try finding their stuff on eBay! is it “cunt” with one or two stars replacing letters?
that's how i came upon this little cockney gem. and the song blew me away from the first note. it got power, it got enthusiasm, it got the “fuck you” attitude that made the charm of old heroes like MC5 or Dead Kennedys. vocalists Martin Tomlinson sporting a Dead Kennedys shirt in the video is no surprise. he seems to be very influenced by Jello Biafra not only in respect of the vocals but also his stage appearance.
ensuing i had to learn that the band not only just released their second album but also that they are about to tour mainland europe and i'll have the chance to see them live in a few weeks. lucky me, usually i find out about a band a couple of weeks after they toured.

Selfish Cunt myspace

Cocoanut Groove – Walking To Madeleine Street

the 80s was the end of analogy in music in more than just one term. instruments were digitized, recordings were digitized and in the end the music medium itself was digitized. with the birth of the cd the pop culture as an overall artistic concept got reduced to auditory pleasure only. „cover art“ became a meaningless term and music fans, ready and willing to pay a few bucks more for original pressings in gatefold sleeves and with inserts or other gimmicks were left behind with a little piece of plastic and tiny booklets you need a magnifying glass for to read. the holistic concept of pop culture got lost and bereft of its visual part the emotional value of a cd became null. since there is no audible between a factory-produced cd and a home-burned, hand-labeled copy, why bother spending too much money on it? and today with the internet and tiny mp3-players that can hold more than one day of music and not just 74 minutes the physical medium is bound to become extinct.
Cocoanut Groove's debut single "End of the summer on Bookbinder Road" was an old fashioned single in its very original meaning. a single song on one side and another single song on the other side. and even though both songs, "End of the summer on Bookbinder Road" and „Shadow“ are great songs it was „Walking To Madeleine Street“, one of the bonus songs that came with the download version of the record on all relevant internet blogs that enthused me right from the beginning. now, with Olov Antonsson's debut full length „Madeleine Street“ finally out it is also available in a physical form.
to describe Cocoanut Groove's music in a few words: a little more simon-and-garfunkelish version of Kings Of Convenience with Nico singing.
the combination of a laid back acoustic guitar and a little moony vocals paint a nice picture of early summer insouciance and infatuation; of blooming trees, singing birds, green lawns and a cloudless sky. it invites you to just sit down and close your, to forget the next appointment and the city around you, to just listen to the song and daydream. after all this song seems to be made to end up on an mp3-player and to be taken along anywhere and everywhere.

Cocoanut Groove myspace

The School - Let It Slip

yes, retro is a four-letter-word. and whereas the last few years saw a small revival of the early 60s diminutive „-ettes“ as in the The Raveonettes, The Pipettes or The Noisettes the music mostly didn't accompany the names. so, even though The Schoolettes would better hint the sound, The School went the other way. it's not that you'll be completely unprepared when confronted with their happy-happy-lollipop-pop: the almost expressionistic use of just bright colours and the displayed post-petticoat fashion are indications enough. the name „The School“ bears, at least for those of us who didn't become teachers, the connotation of adolescence and our last years in the institution of the same name.
The School started spreading the light heartedness of summer and juvenility most fitting in format and colour on a pink 7“ record. now they doubled their output with a 4-song MCD. and it still works and doesn't seem to wear out.
i don't know what them welsh kids plans are, but late spring, early summer would be a good time to dare a full length: a gazillion hormones, induced by the reappearance of full days of sunlight, floading everyones body and create a state of involuntary happiness, that will turn us into all too recipient mediums for this grand twee pop. actually the music itself creates that state even on the darkest and coldest winter days. so why not more of that sonic instant happiness right now?

The School myspace

Cut Off Your Hands - Oh Girl

for a long time british pop music was ruled by 2 opposites: The Beatles and The Stones. your mom's favourites sons-in-law and the bad boys of rock'n'roll. good and bad, black and white. then the 80s offered blue: the gay gentleman, always perfectly dressed for a funeral but going to the carnival. sophisticated and lugubrious. The Smiths. from then on british pop music was ruled by the 3. just think Oasis and Blur and Pulp. it's obvious who is who.
with that in mind the first question for me about a new british band is: what school does it belong to? and very often the answer is rather simple. but must never be too simple. one thing that never should happen is to sound too much like one of the three bands. that privilege is reserved to non-english bands only. I remember a swedish band, who's name i never remember, absolutely sounding like The Smiths but with swedish vocals. they apparently broke up and the singer did it solo as the swedish Moz.
Cut Off Your Hands are from new zealand. so it is only righteuos the have the freedom to go fully for that Smiths sound. and they do it way better than this swedish act since they don't really sound like a Smiths rip-off. more like the Smiths, not aged a day since the break up, would have gotten back together for a new record in 2008. their debut is more mature and less wild than The Smiths first steps but still it has the dichotomy of sad lyrics for happy pop songs. well, it has a bit of johnny's guitar work and steven's vocal lines. anyway...
people like to go nostalgic about music in the 80s only remembering the songs they still like. but when you find an old 80s compilation record, and i'm talking about an 80's compilation that actually is from the 80s, or see a re-run of old chart shows you realize that almost 90% of the music in the 80s was codswallop. Cut Off Your Hands is a band i wish to be from the 80's so i can still like them today and get nostalgic about the good old days.

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